Combination boot and removable cuff therefor



H. LlSH April 1, 1969 COMBINATION BOOT AND REMOVABJE CUFF THEREFOR Filed April 22, 1968 ofz Sheet FIG.1

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mvENToR Henry Lish dan.

ATTORNEY Arr/r/r/r//dr COMBINATION BooT AND REMOVABLE CUFF THEREFOR Filed April 22, 1968 H. I ISH April l 1969 sheet 2 @f2 F IG. 546 /28' 2 2 O 1 2 a vm 4m 4 am N ,m2 6 f 2 vO 4 4 4 4 m 6 \4 2 6 O w .4 4 .4 4 m 4 United States Patent O 3,435,544 COMBINATION BOOT AND REMOVABLE CUFF THEREFOR Henry Lish, Newton, Mass., assignor to Lish Bros. Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 723,016 Int. Cl. A41d 17/00, 27/12 U.S. Cl. 36-2 10 Claims ABSTRACTI F THE DISCLOSURE A combination boot and removable culi having elastic means on said cuff in resiliently gripping relation with outer circumferential surface portions of the boot to render said cuff adjustable to boots of various sizes.

BACKGROUND OF rPHE `INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to a boot and, more particularly, to a removable fur culi having elastic means in resiliently gripping relation with the upper portion of said boot.

Description of the prior art Heretofore, fur cuffs have been proposed which include extendible means for permitting the cuff to be fitted about overshoe uppers of various sizes. The major difficulty and disadvantage of this fur cuff reside in the construction thereof which requires that the cuff be physically connected to the overshoe by means of complementary fastener elements secured respectively to the cuff and the overshoe. It has been found that the use of fastener elements not only limits the adjustability of the cuff to overshoes of various sizes, but also severely limits the interchangeable use of said cuff with other types of overshoes having similar fastener elements. This defect is readily apparent since it makes no provision whatsoever for any interchangeable use of the cuff. It will further be appreciated that the use of fastener elements increases the manufacturing cost of the cuff in view of the material required and the time consumed in securing said fastener elements to the cuff.

While other fur cuffs have been proposed which do not include any fastener elements these cuffs are not constructed for use in combination with a boot and accordingly, do not have sufficient adjustability with respect to various size thereof. The present invention eliminates the above disadvantages and defects existing in heretofore known removable overshoe cuffs in a manner hereinafter described.

Summary of the invention The removable boot cuff` of the present invention includes a tubular strip of material that has an inner expansible backing and outer fur finish. Elastic bands are secured in stretched conditions thereof to the edges of said strip and extend circumferentially thereof for gathering said strip edges thereby rendering the cuff adjustable to boots of various sizes. The entire circu-mferential extent of said elastic bands are turned inwardly in overlying relation to the backing, whereupon the cuff is slid on to the boot and the elastic bands come into resiliently gripping relation with outer circumferential surface portions of the upper portion of the boot. In another embodiment 3,435,544 Patented Apr. 1, 1969 of the invention, the free ends of the bands are secured together to prevent said bands from being inadvertently Withdrawn out of resiliently gripping relation with said outer circumferential surface portions of the boot when the cuff is in use.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a removable fur cuff for a boot having elastic means in resiliently gripping relation with outer circumferential surface portions of the boot; said elastic means rendering the cuff adjustable to boots of various sizes.

Another object and feature of the present invention is to provide a removable fur cuff for a boot that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture and gives long lasting service.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. l is a perspective view of a boot illustrating the removable fur cuff constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial enlarged view of the combination boot and fur cuff shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view, with parts broken away, of an assembly from which the fur cuff is constructed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through line 4-'4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view showing the cuff in its inside out condition;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken through line 6-6 of FIG. 2; and

FIGS. 7 through l0 are transverse sectional views showing alternative embodiments of the invention.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 10 represents a boot having a fur cuff 12 positioned thereon adjacent the top edge thereof.

The preferred manner of constructing cuff 12 is shown in FIGS. 3 through 5. Cuff 12 is assembled from a strip of material 14 having an inner expansible backing 16 and an outer fur finish 18. `In the preferred embodiment, backing 16 is a knitted stretchable fabric. However, other materials can be used for the backing as well, such as a woven fabric used on the bias and stretchable in the direction as shown by the arrow. Finish 18 is preferably made of synthetic fur and is secured to backing 16 by means of a lamination or bonding process or the like. It will be appreciated that other materials besides fur, synthetic fur or a pile fabric may be used in place of fur finish 18 to provide a decorative or ornamental outer finish for boot cuff 12.

In accordance with the present invention, lan elastic band 20 is secured to longitudinal edge 22 of strip 14 by means of stitching 24. The arrangement is such that longitudinal edge 26 of band 20 overlaps a marginal portion of fur finish 18, with the other longitudinal edge 28 of band 20 being free and extending beyond edge 22 of strip 14. Band 20 has a longitudinal extent less than that of strip 14 and is secured thereto in a stretched condition for gathering edge 22 when the cuff is assembled.

A second elastic band 30, similar to band 20, is secured to the other longitudinal edge 32 of strip 14 by means of stitching 34. The securing arrangement is similar to that with respect to band 20, wherein longitudinal edge 36 of band 30 overlaps a marginal portion of fur finish 18 with the other longitudinal edge 38 of band 30 being free and extending beyond edge 32 of strip 14. The longitudinal extent of band 30 is also less than that of strip 14 and is secured thereto in a stretched condition for gathering edge 32 when the cuff is assembled. The transverse edges 40 of strip 14 and the transverse edges 42 and 44 of bands 2t) and 30 respectively are then secured together by means of stitching 46 to form the cuff 12 as shown in FIG. 5.

It will be appreciated that while the assembly sequence described above is the prefered construction, the sequence can be varied wherein the transverse edges 40 of strip 14 are first secured together to form cuff 12, and bands 20 and 30 are then secured in stretched conditions to edges 22 and 32 respectively to form the finished cuff. Furthermore, the transverse edges 42 and 44 of bands 20 and 30 respectively, need not be co-terminous with the transverse edges 46 of strip 14. In this connection, if the longitudinal extent of bands 20 and 30 in their stretched conditions is less than that of strip 14, then the transverse edges 42 and 44 of the respective bands will not be secured together and will not form the endless bands shown in FIG. 5. Regardless of whether or not bands 2t? and 30 are endless, it is important that said bands be secured in their stretched conditions to the respective edges of strip 14 to thereby gather said strip edges for rendering cuff 12 adjustable to various boot sizes.

In using the cuff of the present invention in combination with a boot, culi 12 is turned right side out and the entire circumferential extent of bands 20 and 30v are turned inwardly in overlying relation to backing 16. Expansible backing 16 and elastic bands 20 and 30 permit cuff 12 to be stretched circumferentially and slid on to boot 10, whereupon elastic bands 20 and 30 come into resiliently gripping relation with outer circumferential surface `portions of the upper portion of boot 10. In this connection, band 20 resiliently grips a surface portion adjacent the top edge of boot and band 30 similarly grips a surface portion remote from the top edge of said boot to prevent cuff 12 from sliding down the upper portion of the boot when the cuff is in use.

Accordingly, it will now be appreciated that the present invention eliminates the disadvantages and defects existing in heretofore known over shoe cuffs by providing a novel boot cuff construction that does not require any fastener elements for securing said cuff to the boot. The elimination of fastener elements substantially reduces the manufacturing cost lof the cuff and permits the cuff to be easily and quickly interchangeably used on a wide variety of boots. Furthermore, the construction of the cuff is such as to afford a wide degree of adjustability thereby permitting the cuff to be used on boots of various sizes. In addition, it is to be noted that the fur finish of the cu also serves to enhance the decorative quality of the boot.

FIGS. 7 through 10 show alternative embodiments of the present invention, wherein the cuff 12 of FIG. 7 is provided with elastic band means 50 secured to and extending along one edge of the cuff. The `other edge of the cuff is turned inwardly upon itself and secured thereto by means of stitching 52 to form a neat, attractive hem. Since the embodiment of FIG. 7 uses only one elastic band, said band 50 has a transverse dimension somewhat `greater than that of bands and 30 of FIG. 5 to provide sufficient gripping cooperation between said band 50 and the outer circumferential surface portion of the boot.

In FIG. 8, single elastic band means 60 has a transverse dimension sufficient to permit both longitudinal edges thereof to be secured to the respective adjacent edges of the cuff.

In FIG. 9, the free edges of bands 70 and 72 extend toward each other and are secured together by means 4of stitching 74. Similarly, the free edges of bands 80 and 82 of FIG. l0 extend toward each other and are secured together by means of one or more elastic strips 84 which extend between said free edges and are secured respectively thereto by means of stitching 86. Securing the free edges of the respective bands of FIGS. 9 and 10 together serves to prevent said bands from being inadvertently withdrawn out of resiliently gripping relation with outer circumferential surface portions of the boot when the respective cuffs are in use.

I claim:

1. In combination with a boot having an upper portion, a removable cuff comprising:

(a) a tubular expansible member having an outer ornamental finish;

(b) endless elastic band means secured in a stretched condition thereof to said member along an inner portion thereof;

(c) said band means being in resiliently gripping relation with an outer circumferential surface portion of said upper portion of the boot adjacent the top edge thereof.

2. In combination with a boot having an upper portion, a removable cuff comprising:

(a) a tubular member having an inner expansible backing and an outer ornamental finish;

(b) endless elastic band means secured in a stretched condition thereof to said member along an inner portion of said backing;

(c) said band means being in resiliently gripping relation with 4an outer circumferential surface portion -of said upper portion of the boot adjacent the top edge thereof.

3. In combination with a boot having an upper portion, a removable cuff comprising:

(a) a tubular strip of material having an inner expansible backing and an outer ornamental finish; and

(b) elastic band means secured in a stretched condition thereof to one edge of said strip and extending circumferentially thereof for gathering said strip edge;

(c) the entire circumferential extent of said band means being turned inwardly in overlying relation to said backing and in resiliently gripping relation with an outer circumferential surface portion of said upper portion of the boot adjacent the top edge thereof.

4. The combination as recited in claim 3, further comprising second elastic band means secured in a stretched condition thereof to the other edge of said strip and extending circumferentially thereof for gathering said other strip edge, the entire circumferential extent of said second band means being turned inwardly in overlying relation to said backing and in resiliently gripping relation with an outer circumferential surface portion of said upper portion of the boot remote from the top edge thereof.

5. The combination as recited in claim 4, wherein the respective first and second band means are endless.

6. In combination with a boot having an upper portion, a. removable cuff comprising:

(a) a strip of material having an inner expansible backing and an outer fur finish;

(b) an elastic band;

(c) means for securing one longitudinal edge of said band in a stretched condition thereof to one longitudinal edge of said strip for gathering said longitudinal strip edge; and

(d) means for securing together the transverse edges of said strip to form said cuff;

(e) the entire circumferential extent of said band being turned inwardly in overlying relation to said backing and in resilently gripping relation with an outer circumferential surface portion of said upper portion of the boot adjacent the upper edge thereof.

7. The combination as recited in claim 6, further comprising means for securing the other longitudinal edge of said band in a stretched condition thereof to the other 1ongitudinal edge of said strip for gathering said other longitudinal strip edge.

8. The combination as recited in claim y6, further cornprising a second elastic iband; means for Securing one longitudinal edge of said second band in a stretched condition thereof to the other longitudinal edge of said strip for gathering said other longitudinal strip edge; the entire circumferential extent of said second ban-d being turned inwardly in overlying relation to said backing and in resiliently gripping relation with an outer circumferential surface portion of said upper portion of the boot remote from the top edge thereof; the free edges of the rst and second bands extending toward each other.

9. The combination as recited in claim 8-, further comprising means for connecting together the free edges of the rst and second bands.

10. The combination as recited in claim 8, wherein the respective first and second 4bands are endless.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 2-62 

